Consumers have been shopping for goods and products to place in their homes or other environments for most of modern times. Typically, such a process would involve traveling to a store, selecting a product for the home or environment, and transporting a purchased product from the store to the home. After bringing the product home, the consumer must make sure that the product fits within its environment. For example, the consumer typically must ensure that the product fits in an environment both physically and also aesthetically with the decor of an environment. The physical aspect of this problem is especially prevalent with large or unwieldy products, such as couches, televisions, desks, and other large items. Fitting aesthetically is especially problematic with art, furniture, and other items visible in an environment. Products that do not fit, whether physically or aesthetically, must be physically returned to the store at which it was purchased, necessitating numerous trips at the inconvenience of the consumer.
With the advent of online shopping, some of the inconvenient aspects of the traditional shopping model have changed. For example, consumers may now select goods and products to place in their homes or environments using a computer or other electronic device. The consumer may order the product and have it delivered to his or her house, avoiding a trip to a brick-and-mortar store. However, the consumer must still deal with an uncertainty of whether a product will fit physically or aesthetically within his or her home or environment. Additionally, the online consumer cannot generally return the product to a physical store. Therefore, the online consumer must schedule pickup of the product to be returned by a postal or carrier service, often at the expense of the unsatisfied consumer.
Using the sale of furniture online as an example, a shopper purchasing a piece of furniture online can attempt to visualize the item in an intended environment. However, using traditional shopping techniques, the environment he or she would like to place the item in may not properly accommodate the piece of furniture. Traditional shopping techniques do not allow a consumer to test an item to determine whether the size, color, and other features work in the desired space and with the surrounding decor, thereby requiring a somewhat blind purchasing decision. To some extent, these uncertainties can dissuade shoppers from purchasing online because the likelihood of costly returns becomes a risk when a purchaser determines that the item does not fit in or otherwise complement the intended space.
Therefore, a need exists to solve the deficiencies present in the prior art. What is needed is a commercial platform that allows a consumer to visualize a product within an intended environment without being required to physically locate the product in that environment. What is needed is a commercial platform for connecting consumers, merchants, artists, and manufacturers to facilitate a transaction. What is needed is a simplified platform to shop for products that can be located in an environment. What is needed is a commercial platform capable of associating a product with a model for simulation in an environment. What is needed is a commercial platform with a consumer component to augment a simulated product in an environment. What is needed is a commercial platform with a marketplace for contracting illustration projects.